Netlh-‘ii~-ne Stewards 

The 2023 season of the Netlh-'ii~-ne Steward program is here and we're looking for Tolowa Tribal citizens, age 18-40, to participate this summer.  See the flyer below for more details and click the link to apply!

www.surveymonkey.com/r/6L8S67D

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The 2022 season of the Netlh-'ii~-ne Steward program saw Victor and Mason return to complete another 3 months (250+ hours) of monitoring work and trainings.  Below, the Stewards and staff used what they learned last season and honed their public speaking skills by presenting a training on Biotoxin sampling to the Yurok Summer Intern Program. 

We had a great season and a successful conclusion to this great program.  

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2021 Season:

Working as part of the Netlh-'ii~-ne Stewards Program, is the Tribal Marine Steward Network (TMSN) of which we are a partner.  

Founded by 4 partner tribes (the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians of the Stewarts Point Rancheria, the Resighini Rancheria, and the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation) in 2021, the TMSN is an alliance of Tribal Nations working collaboratively to protect and restore our coastal and marine ecosystems. By restoring our ecological resilience, we build economic, community, and cultural resilience for today and future generations.

As Indigenous Peoples, we exercise our inherent rights, responsibilities, and obligations to steward our ancestral territories and to continue to practice cultural life ways. The TMSN aims to return management of our ocean and coastal territories to California Tribes and to ensure Indigenous Knowledge drives decision-making, resulting in healthy and viable communities and ecosystems for future generations.

We support the autonomy, authority, and capacity-building of our member Tribes to manage ocean and coastal marine resources and ecosystems. We work collaboratively with one another – and with state agency and nongovernmental supporters – to develop Tribally led initiatives that build ecological, community, and cultural resilience, and return management responsibilities to California Tribes in perpetuity.

We provide support for programs dedicated to cultural practice, land and water stewardship, and education.  Our Tribes have a responsibility to steward, protect, and restore the ocean and coastal resources within our ancestral territories. We seek to establish long-term, consistent engagement with state and federal agencies, while implementing Indigenous Traditional Knowledge (ITK) and Tribal Science into management practices.

The TMSN is reclaiming our right to manage and steward our ocean and coastal territories, particularly those within and adjacent to Marine Protected Areas. With funding support from the Ocean Protection Council (OPC), the TMSN is engaged in numerous monitoring and community engagement initiatives. Much of our work is done together, but each member Tribe has unique initiatives that are centered around the collective work and goals of the TMSN.

On October 6th, the Marine Division and members of Tribal Council, along with representatives of all partner Tribes, were in Sacramento to attend OPC's quarterly meeting to await their approval of funding for the TMSN. After a wonderful presentation by Megan Rocha (Resighini Rancheria) and moving public comment, OPC awarded the TMSN $3.61 million to continue its amazing work for the next 3 years. 

TMSN then had its public launch with more emotional testimonies, loads of support and cheers of celebration.

Additionally, the TMSN welcomed the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians as the fifth Tribe of the TMSN.  

We are beyond excited to, not only be a founding Tribe of the TMSN, but also receive unprecedented support from the state to return stewardship and management of ocean and coastal territories to California Tribes.

For more information check out the TMSN website: www.tribalmsn.org